I’ll Have Another poked his head out of his stall, started nibbling on his nameplate tacked to a wall and looked up at all the people watching his every move.

Yes, I’ll Have Another came out of his thrilling Preakness victory over Bodemeister in “super shape,” trainer Doug O’Neill said Sunday, and now it’s on to New York for a Triple Crown try in the Belmont Stakes on June 9.

“We’re ready. Bring it on,” O’Neill said as he held court outside the stall of his Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner. “I can’t put into words how incredible it is. We’re just on Cloud 9. It’s super exciting.”

The colorful and controversial trainer returned to his home base in California later Sunday, and has begun making plans for the trip to New York in the next week or so. I’ll Have Another, meanwhile, was loaded onto a horse van en route for Belmont Park. O’Neill’s assistant, Jack Sisteron, will oversee the chestnut colt until O’Neill and the rest of his team arrive.

The trainer took time to soak in the moment at Pimlico, and contemplate the pressure-packed days that await leading to the first Triple Crown attempt since 2008. It will be the 12th try since 1978, when Affirmed won thoroughbred racing’s most elusive prize.

“It’s hasn’t completely sunk in yet,” he said. “The party out here after the race was like wow! I’ve never seen anything like that — everyone so excited about horse racing and I’ll Have Another 2-for-2. I definitely feel the energy and buzz in the air.”

He hasn’t seen anything yet.

The Triple Crown quest brought some tantalizingly close calls since Affirmed turned back Alydar in the Derby, Preakness and Belmont 34 years ago — the longest drought between Triple Crown champions.

There was Real Quiet in 1998, who looked like a lock to take the Belmont until he was nailed at the wire by Victory Gallop. And there was Smarty Jones, who also looked golden in the Belmont stretch only to be reeled in by 36-1 long shot Birdstone in the final 70 yards.

J. Paul Reddam, who owns I’ll Have Another, would like nothing better than to have his horse join the equine pantheon of Triple Crown heroes that includes Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Citation. He’s just not ready to deal with the three-week buildup to a race also known as the “Test of The Champion.”

“I’m actually not looking forward to the next three weeks at all,” Reddam said. “I know there is going to be a certain amount of tension, and I’m not eager to do a bunch of TV interviews. That’s not me.”

O’Neill, however, has embraced the hoopla. He can’t wait to take Manhattan.

“Like we did in Louisville and Baltimore, when we come to New York we’re going to see the town, enjoy it, soak it in,” he said. “And the reason we’re enjoying it so much is the horse has been thriving so much. If he continues to do good, we’ll have a good time.”

There could be bumpy times, too. O’Neill has been under scrutiny over his many violations for giving his horses improper drugs. He has been accused in California of “milkshaking,” the illegal practice of giving a horse a blend of bicarbonate of soda, sugar and electrolytes. The mixture is designed to reduce fatigue and enhance performance. He was fined $1,000 and suspended 15 days in one incident. He is contesting another and faces penalties ranging from a minimum 90-day suspension and a $5,000 fine to a maximum 180-day suspension and fine of $15,000.

“I can’t talk about all that stuff,” O’Neill said. “I know we play by the rules, and I know we love our horses and we take great care of them.”

He chooses to accentuate the positive.

“One thing we have here is an open door policy and a backstage pass for everybody,” he said. “And it’s been a great opportunity to share with everybody who loves horse racing to see what goes into trying to take care of a horse,” he said.

And that horse has proved again he’s deserving of a chance at greatness. Purchased for $35,000, he won the Santa Anita Derby by a nose over Creative Cause. He came back a month later and caught Bodemeister in the final 100 yards to take the Derby, and then produced an even more dramatic finish when he ran down Bodemeister in the final strides to win the Preakness by a neck.

In less than three weeks, I’ll Have Another will be looking for one more win — this one for history.

No one is loving the run up to Saturday’s Preakness more than Doug O’Neill.

The trainer of Kentucky Derby winner I’ll Have Another has spent nearly two weeks in Baltimore, hanging with Ravens coach John Harbaugh, throwing out the first ball at an Orioles game, and hammering away at Maryland crabs for the first time. He also huddled with Secretariat’s jockey Ron Turcotte about racing strategy, held daily news briefings at the stakes barn and was forthcoming when asked about his history of violations for giving his horses improper drugs.

Through it all, O’Neill and his crew are enjoying the moment in their own California free-wheeling style .

“It’s been a blast. Incredible. We’ve taken advantage of it, and done some cool things,” O’Neill said Friday morning, wearing a Preakness cap signed by area school children. “They just really rolled out the red carpet for us. Obviously, it’s a lot of fun when your horse is doing as good as he is.”

I’ll Have Another has been doing just fine since catching the speedy Bodemeister in the final 100 yards to win the Derby by 1½ lengths two weeks ago.

“He looks fantastic. Great energy,” O’Neill said. “He’s maintained his beautiful, long stride. We’re just very happy with each day that goes by.”

Life can become a whole lot happier for O’Neill if I’ll Have Another wins the Preakness. A victory over 8-5 morning-line favorite Bodemeister and nine other rivals would set up a Triple Crown attempt three weeks later in the Belmont Stakes.

It’s been 34 years since Affirmed swept the Derby, Preakness and Belmont and became the 11th Triple Crown champion. Since then, 11 horses have won the first two legs only to come up short in the Belmont. The most recent try came in 2008, when Big Brown was pulled up around the turn for home and finished last.

O’Neill isn’t even bothered that I’ll Have Another is the 5-2 second choice behind the horse he defeated. He noted this is his first Preakness while Bodemeister’s trainer Bob Baffert has won the race five times in 11 tries.

“I totally respect that. I just hope anyone who bets Bodemeister is regretting it Saturday night,” O’Neill said earlier in the week.

Baffert, meanwhile, has been singing the praises of his colt, who set a blistering pace in the Derby, but was unable to fend off I’ll Have Another. After watching him gallop at Churchill Downs earlier in the week, Baffert gave a thumb’s up and had Bodemeister shipped to Pimlico Race Course.

On Friday, Baffert said his colt is coming into the race in great shape, but knows the Derby winner is the horse to beat.

“He’s a good horse. He’s won all three of his races this year against a strong group of California horses,” Baffert said, referring to I’ll Have Another. “I respect the Derby winner. I come here hoping I can turn the tables this time and get it done.”

The Preakness is a sixteenth-of-a-mile shorter than the Derby, about equal the distance to the wire in the Derby where Bodemeister lost the lead.

“He just has to run that Derby race back,” Bodemeister’s jockey Mike Smith said. “If he runs his race like that, we’ll be in good shape to get the job done.”

The second leg of the Triple Crown could turn into a two-horse race, with Bodemeister breaking for the lead from the No. 7 post, and I’ll Have Another — in the No. 9 gate — trying to stay close until jockey Mario Gutierrez determines when to make his move.

Besides Churchill Downs and Louisville Slugger baseball bats, this old Ohio River town’s main claim to fame has been the whiskey industry. It’s the kind of place where there’s virtually a bar on every corner in the blue-collar neighborhoods. The great sportswriter Jim Murray once described Louisville as a “bourbon-soaked bar-rag of a town.”

So you’d think that when a thoroughbred named I’ll Have Another showed up in the Kentucky Derby, he’d be sort of a sentimental choice — at least a lot lower than 15-to-1. Yet those were I’ll Have Another’s odds when his jockey, a Derby rookie named Mario Gutierrez, hunched up in his saddle and waited for the starting gate to spring open in the 138th running of America’s coveted horse race.

Heck, the record 165,307 party animals who jammed into Churchill Down on a nearly 90-degree afternoon guzzled an ungodly amount of Early Times mint juleps, the official drink of the Derby. If everybody who said, “I’ll have another” to a julep vendor had bet on Gutierrez’s colt, he would have gone off as the favorite instead of a virtually ignored longshot.

As he sat chilly in the No. 19 starting stall, Gutierrez had no idea that no horse had ever won the Derby from that post position. Over the years, horses who start from that far off the rail generally have trouble finding a decent spot in the pack as the field breaks from the gate and comes down the long Churchill stretch for the first time.

But Gutierrez, a native of Mexico who until recently was doing most of his riding at little Hastings Park in Vancouver, handled the challenge with the aplomb of a veteran. When the gate sprung open, I’ll Have Another showed an early burst of speed that drew him clear of the horses to his immediate inside.

Settling into a good stalking spot five or six horses back of the freaky-fast Bodemeister, who ran the fastest first quarter of a mile in Derby history and the fifth-fastest half, I’ll Have Another had only one horse between him and the rail as the field spun out of the first turn and straightened out on the backstretch.

But all eyes were on Bodemeister, who was trying to give trainer Bob Baffert his fourth Derby victory less than two months after the white-maned trainer had suffered a heart attack in Dubai. As Bodemeister galloped along, running free and clear on the lead, you could almost hear the media folks cranking up their Baffert feel-good stories.

Bodemeister ran a brilliant mile and an eighth. Unfortunately for him, the Derby is a mile and a quarter. Less than 100 yards before the finish line, I’ll Have Another swept past Bodemeister and pulled away for a 1½-length victory in 2:01.83. The victory earned $1.4 million for owner Paul Reddam, the man who bought the colt at auction for $42,000 and urged O’Neill to give Gutierrez a shot on the colt.

Sometimes the owner knows best.

Making his first appearance aboard I’ll Have Another in the Santa Anita’s Robert B. Lewis Stakes on Feb. 12, Gutierrez guided the 43-to-1 shot to a 2½-length victory. His work impressed Redddam and Lewis enough to put him back on the Kentucky-bred son of Flower Alley in the Santa Anita Derby on April 12. This time Gutierrez and I’ll Have Another caught the favored Create Cause at the wire for a nose victory that punched their ticket to the Derby.

After the race, an emotional Gutierrez said he wasn’t rattled by the size of the crowd or the field. This is a great opportunity in my life,” he said. “I wasn’t going to come here and melt down, that’s for sure.”

Gutierrez became the 42nd jockey to win the Derby on his first try, and nobody was more impressed with Gutierrez’s work yesterday than Mike Smith, the veteran who was aboard Bodemeister. Smith said his colt wanted to run so he didn’t try to restrain him. However, the fast early fractions proved costly at the end.

“At the top of the stretch,” said Smith, “I really thought we had it. But I knew we were in trouble when I saw Doug’s horse coming.”

The only other horse who ran up to his potential was Dullahan, who had to go nine wide in the turn for home, but came flying to finish third. The favored Union Rags had his usual bad luck, breaking slow and getting bumped to the rear early. The white horse, Hansen, spit out the bit at the top of the stretch and struggled home ninth.

According to Reddam, I’ll Have Another’s name came from what he says whenever his wife bakes cookies. In a place like Louisville, though, it has another meaning entirely — especially on the day the city turns into the world’s largest outdoor cocktail party.

Assuming that he comes out of the race unscathed, the Derby winner definitely will try to capture the second leg of racing’s Triple Crown — the Preakness at Pimlico in Baltimore on May 19.

“Baltimore, here we come!” chortled O’Neill.

In other words, when it comes to Triple Crown races, he’ll have another.